Detroit

Los Angeles

Chicago

Atlanta

Dallas

New York City

Boston

Houston

Washington

Miami

Philadelphia

Denver

San Jose

Seattle

Cleveland

Baltimore

Saint Louis

Tulsa

Phoenix San Diego

Pittsburgh

Kansas City

Portland

Indianapolis

Buffalo

Akron

Milwaukee

Camden Sacramento

Flint

Richmond

Memphis

Omaha

Oakland

Dayton

Nashville

MinneapolisSaint Paul

Cincinnati

San Antonio

Tampa

Rochester

Columbus

Wichita

Birmingham

Toledo

Fort

Worth

Tucson

Concord

Louisville

Norfolk

Hartford

Orlando

Spokane

Charlotte

Tacoma

Oklahoma

City

Eugene

Knoxville

Sarasota

Lansing

Jackson

Jacksonville

Marietta

Austin

Salt Lake City

Springfield

Providence

Clearwater

New Orleans

Las Vegas

Trenton

Pensacola

Albuquerque

Augusta

Winston-Salem

Roanoke

Baton Rouge

Mobile

Syracuse

Youngstown

Huntsville

Chattanooga

El Paso

Greenville

Fort Wayne

Fort LauderdaleWest Palm Beach

Grand

Rapids

Duluth

Vancouver

Covington

Little Rock

Newport NewsHampton

Cocoa

Beach

TEXAS

UTAH

MONTANA

NEVADA

CALIFORNIA

IDAHO

ARIZONA

OREGON

IOWA

KANSAS

WYOMING

NEW MEXICO

COLORADO

OHIO

MISSOURI

NEBRASKA

MINNESOTA

ILLINOIS

GEORGIA

FLORIDA

OKLAHOMA

ALABAMA

WISCONSIN

WASHINGTON

SOUTH DAKOTA

ARKANSAS

MAINE

NORTH DAKOTA

NEW YORK

VIRGINIA

MISSISSIPPI

LOUISIANA

INDIANA

MICHIGAN

TENNESSEE

KENTUCKY

PENNSYLVANIA

NORTH CAROLINA

SOUTH CAROLINA

WEST VIRGINIA

VERMONT

MASSACHUSETTS

MARYLAND

NEW JERSEY

NEW

HAMPSHIRE

CONNECTICUT

PUERTO RICO

DELAWARE

RHODE ISLAND

U.S. VIRGIN

ISLANDS

130° 125° 120° 115° 110° 105° 100° 95° 90° 85° 80° 75° 70°

50°

45°

40°

35°

30°

25°

20°

15°

10°

45°

40°

35°

30°

25°

20°

15°

10°

150° 145° 140° 135° 130° 125° 120° 115° 110° 105° 100° 95° 90° 85° 80° 75° 70° 65° 60° 55° 50°

Frontier-Muddy

Continuous-Gas AU Cody Sandstone

Continuous-Gas AU

Mesaverde-Meeteetse

Sandstone Gas AU

Lance-Fort Union

Sandstone Gas AU

Wind River Basin Province

Digital Data Series 69–HH

Plate 1

Southern Alaska Province

0.64 TCFG

ALASKA

155°

155° 140° 135°

145°

145°

150°

150°

160°

160°

165°

180° 175° 170° 165°

70°

70°

65°

65°

60°

60°

55°

55° 0 50 100 MILES

0 50 100 KILOMETERS

Alaska Albers Equal Area Conic Projection

Central Meridian: -154.0

Standard Parallel 1: 55.0

Standard Parallel 2: 65.0

Latitude of origin: 50.0

Datum: North American Datum 1983

Catskill Sandstones and Siltstone AU

Berea Sandstone AU

Greater Big Sandy AU

Clinton-Medina

Transitional Northeast AU

Clinton-Medina Transitional AU

Clinton-Medina Basin-Center AU

Tuscarora Basin-Center AU

Appalachian Basin Province

51.71 TCFG

Appalachian Basin Province

Shallow Continuous

Biogenic-Gas AU

Bowdoin Dome AU

Judith River Formation AU

Eagle Sandstone and

Claggett Shale West AU

Eagle Sandstone and

Claggett Shale West AU

Eagle Sandstone and

Claggett Shale East AU Niobrara-Carlile AU

Greenhorn–

Upper Belle Fourche AU

Greenhorn–

Lower Belle Fourche AU

Cody Sandstone

Continuous-Gas AU

Mesaverde Sandstone

Continuous-Gas AU

Muddy–Frontier Sandstone and

Mowry Fractured Shale

Continuous-Gas AU

Deep (6,000 feet plus) Coal

and Sandstone Gas AU

(Ferron/Wasatch Plateau TPS)

Uinta Basin Transitional-Gas AU

(Mesaverde TPS) Uinta Basin Continuous-Gas AU

(Mesaverde TPS)

Piceance Basin

Transitional-Gas AU

(Mesaverde TPS)

Piceance Basin

Continuous-Gas AU

(Mesaverde TPS)

Piceance Basin

Continuous-Gas AU

(Mancos/Mowry TPS)

Uinta Basin Continuous-Gas AU

(Mancos/Mowry TPS)

Uinta-Piceance Transitional and Migrated Gas AU

(Mancos/Mowry TPS)

Arkoma-Ouachita Foredeep

Continuous AU

0 30 60 MILES

0 30 60 KILOMETERS

Taylorsville Basin

Continuous-Gas AU

Richmond Basin

Continuous-Gas AU

South Newark Basin

Continuous-Gas AU

Deep River Basin

Continuous-Gas AU

Dan River-Danville Basin

Continuous-Gas AU

Dakota Group

Basin-Center Gas AU

Tuxedni-Naknek

Continuous-Gas AU

Dakota-Greenhorn

Continuous-Gas AU Mancos Sandstones

Continuous-Gas AU

Mesaverde

Central-Basin

Continuous-Gas AU

Lewis Continuous-Gas AU

Pictured Cliffs

Continuous-Gas AU

Columbia Basin

Continuous-Gas AU

Mowry Continuous-Gas AU

Hilliard-Baxter-Mancos

Continuous Gas AU

Mesaverde-Lance-Fort Union

Continuous-Gas Au

Almond

Continuous-Gas AU

Lewis

Continuous-Gas AU

Lance-Fort Union

Continuous-Gas AU

Lance-Fort Union

Continuous-Gas AU

Rock Springs-Ericson

Continuous-Gas AU

Southwestern Wyoming Province

North-Central Montana Province

6.19 TCFG

Powder River Basin Province

0.79 TCFG

Uinta-Piceance Basin Province

18.83 TCFG

Arkoma Basin Province

6.79 TCFG

Eastern Oregon and

Washington Province

2.12 TCFG

Southwestern Wyoming

Province—80.58 TCFG

San Juan Basin Province

26.18 TCFG

Wind River Basin Province

1.69 TCFG

Denver Basin Province

1.09 TCFG

East Coast Mesozoic Basins

3.86 TCFG

Bighorn Basin Province

0.42 TCFG

0 10 20 MILES

0 10 20 KILOMETERS

Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply 

endorsement by the U.S. Government.

Although this information product, for the most part, is in the public domain, it also contains 

copyrighted materials as noted in the text. Permission to reproduce copyrighted items must 

be secured from the copyright owner.

This database, identified as DDS 69–HH, has been approved for release and publication by 

the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Although this database has been subjected to rigorous 

review and is substantially complete, the USGS reserves the right to revise the data 

pursuant to further analysis and review. Furthermore, it is released on condition that neither 

the USGS nor the U.S. Government may be held liable for any damages resulting from its 

authorized or unauthorized use.

For more information concerning this publication, contact:

Center Director, USGS Central Energy Resources Science Center

Box 25046, Mail Stop 939

(303) 236-1647

Or visit the Central Energy Resources Science Center Web site at:

http://energy.usgs.gov/

Publishing support provided by: 

Denver Publishing Service Center

Edit and digital layout by L.J. Binder

Manuscript approved for publication July 17, 2014

To learn about the USGS and its information products visit

http://www.usgs.gov/ 

1-888-ASK-USGS

This report is available at:

http://pubs.usgs.gov/dds/dds-069/dds-069-hh/ and on 

CD-ROM by contacting eteamdisks@usgs.gov

Suggested citation: U.S. Geological Survey National Assessment of Oil and 

Gas Resources Team, and Biewick, L.R.H., compiler, 2014, Map of assessed 

tight-gas resources in the United States, 2014: U.S. Geological Survey Digital 

Data Series 69–HH, 6 p., 1 pl., GIS data package,

http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/ds69hh. 

ISSN 2327-638X (online)

http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/ds69hh

0 10 20 MILES

0 10 20 KILOMETERS

Eastern Oregon and

Washington Province

0 30 60 MILES

0 30 60 KILOMETERS

San Juan Basin Province

0 15 30 MILES

0 15 30 KILOMETERS

Southern Alaska Province

Denver Basin Province

0 15 30 MILES

0 15 30 KILOMETERS

East Coast Mesozoic Basins

0 30 60 MILES

0 30 60 KILOMETERS

Arkoma Basin Province

Uinta-Piceance Basin Province

100 0 100 200 300 400 500 MILES

100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 KILOMETERS

0 15 30 MILES

0 15 30 KILOMETERS

Bighorn Basin Province

0 15 30 MILES

0 15 30 KILOMETERS

North-Central Montana Province

0 30 60 MILES

0 30 60 KILOMETERS

Powder River Basin Province

0 30 60 MILES

0 30 60 KILOMETERS

0 30 60 MILES

0 30 60 KILOMETERS

Shaded relief from U.S. Geological Survey, The National Map, published 2007 at http://nationalmap.gov/

Bathymetry from ETOPO1, NOAA Technical Memorandum

NESDIS NGDC–24 (Amante and Eakins, 2009)

Map of Assessed Tight-Gas Resources in the United States, 2014

By

U.S. Geological Survey National Assessment of Oil and Gas Resources Team, 

and Laura R.H. Biewick, compiler

2014

Albers Equal Area Conic Projection, Central Meridian: -96.0

Standard Parallel 1: 29.5, Standard Parallel 2: 45.5

Latitude of origin: 23.0

Datum: North American Datum 1983

0 15 30 MILES

0 15 30 KILOMETERS

Explanation

Tight-Gas Assessment Units—Merged

on conterminous U.S. map. On inset

maps, outlined and labeled with red

text in a light red background.

Mean tight-gas resource estimates (TCFG)—Undiscovered,

technically recoverable. TCFG, trillions of cubic feet of gas.

100

75

50

25

10

5

1

PACIFIC OCEAN

ATLANTIC OCEAN

Gulf of Mexico MEXICO

CANADA

UNITED STATES

CUBA

JAMAICA

HAITI

DOMINICAN

REPUBLIC

Abstract

This report presents a digital map of tight-gas resource 

assessments in the United States as part of the U.S. 

Geological Survey’s (USGS) National Assessment of Oil and 

Gas Project. Using a geology-based assessment 

methodology, the USGS quantitatively estimated potential 

volumes of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural 

gas resources within tight-gas assessment units (AUs). This 

is the second digital map product in a series of USGS 

unconventional oil and gas resource maps. The map can be 

printed in hardcopy form or downloaded in a Geographic 

Information System (GIS) data package, including an ArcGIS 

ArcMap document (.mxd), geodatabase (.gdb), and published 

map file (.pmf). In addition, the publication access table 

contains hyperlinks to current USGS tight-gas assessment 

publications and web pages.

Access to Report

This entire publication is available online at the USGS web site:

http:/pubs.usgs.gov/dds/dds-069/dds-069-hh/ and on CD-ROM by contacting:

eteamdisks@usgs.gov.

Access to Assessment Results

Comprehensive geologic studies, supporting data, and reports on the 

methodology used in assessing undiscovered oil and gas resources in the United 

States are available at the USGS Central EnergyResources Science Center website: 

http://energy.usgs.gov/OilGas/AssessmentsData/NationalOilGasAssessment.aspx

Project Chief: Christopher J. Schenk

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey